Gob  b 


i  awi  ■ 

WicjO 

A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


IN  THE 


Reformed  Church  in  America 


1796=1896 


I.  Original  Movements 

II.  Period  of  Cooperation 

III.  Period  of  Independent  Action 
(Statistics  to  May,  1900.) 


OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 
Church  Building 
25  East  22<J  Street 
New  York 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS  IN  OUR  REFORMED 
CHURCHES:  1796-1896. 


I.  ORIGINAL,  MOVEMENTS. 


IT  is  quite  proper  to  celebrate  the  completion  of  a  century  of 
missionary  activity  on  the  part  of  the  Reformed  Church. 
Its  own  Board  was  not  organized  till  1832.  But  long  pre¬ 
vious  to  that  time  its  members  had  united  with  those  of  other 
churches  in  evangelistic  labors  and  organizations. 

In  November,  1796,  just  a  century  ago,  the 
New  York  New  York  Missionary  Society  was  organized 
M  issionary  in  New  York  City.  In  it  were  represented 
Society,  1796.  the  Baptist,  Presbyterian  and  Reformed 
Churches.  Monthly  meetings  were  held  on 
the  second  Wednesday  of  each  month,  in  the  Baptist,  Dutch 
and  Presbyterian  churches  in  rotation,  “  for  the  purpose  of 
offering  their  prayers  to  the  God  of  grace,  that  He  would  be 
pleased  to  pour  out  His  Spirit  011  His  Church,  and  send  His 
Gospel  to  all  the  nations.'''  This  society  opened  correspond¬ 
ence  with  similar  societies  in  Great  Britain  and  received  replies 
from  several  of  them.  It  was  no  doubt  due  to  the  example  set 
by  the  society  that  the  Northern  Missionary  Society  was  formed 
at  Ransingburgh,  N.  Y.,  a  few  months  later.  In  this  the  same 
denominations  were  represented. 

The  immediate  object  of  these  societies  was 
Objects.  to  send  out  and  support  preachers  among 
the  various  tribes  of  American  Indians.  The 
New  York  society  also  undertook  to  educate  proper  persons  to 
be  sent  out  as  missionaries.  Neither  of  them  seems  to  have 
aimed  to  extend  its  operations  to  the  great  heathen  world  beyond. 


2 


A  CENTURY  OR  MISSIONS 


The  first  missionary,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Bullen, 
M  issionaries.  of  Vermont,  was  sent  to  the  Chickasaws  of 
Georgia,  and  others  to  the  Stockbridge  In¬ 
dians  of  Connecticut,  the  Indians  of  Suffolk  County,  Long 
Island,  and  the  Tuscaroras  and  Senecas  of  Western  New  York. 
In  1800  the  New  York  Missionary  Magazine  was  established, 
and  in  it  reports  were  given  of  the  operations  of  the  society, 
with  letters  from  the  missionaries,  as  well  as  accounts  of  the 
work  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  and  others.  It  was 
issued  for  four  years  and  then  discontinued  for  lack  of  support. 

In  November,  1797,  Dr.  John  M.  Mason 
Influential  preached  his  famous  sermon  entitled,  “  Mes- 
Sermons.  siah’s  Throne,”  before  the  New  York  society 
in  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  Wall  street. 
The  audience  is  described  as  “crowded,  attentive  and  serious, 
and  the  collection  made  after  the  sermon  was  large,  and  did 
great  honor  to  the  liberality  of  the  citizens  of  New  York.” 
This  sermon,  as  also  one  by  Dr.  John  H.  Livingston,  almost 
equally  famous,  preached  in  April,  1799,  before  the  same  so¬ 
ciety,  entitled,  “  Christ  is  all  in  all,”  was  afterward  widely  pub¬ 
lished.  A  similar,  and  perhaps  more  eloquent,  sermon  was 
preached  by  Dr.  Livingston  before  the  same  society  in  1804,  en¬ 
titled,  “Tue  Everlasting  Gospel.”  These  did  much  to  awaken, 
extend  and  perpetuate  a  missionary  spirit  among  the  churches. 
The  last  is  believed  to  have  been  reprinted  and  widely  circulated 
by  Samuel  J.  Mills,  and  so  to  have  contributed  to  the  creation  of 
that  spirit  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  American  Board. 

Both  of  the  societies  mentioned  were  entirely  voluntary 
in  their  character.  They  had,  I  believe,  no  formal  ecclesiastical 
sanction  whatever.  The  missions  and  property  of  the  New 
York  society  were  handed  over  to  the  United  Missionary  Society 
in  1821.  The  Northern  continued  its  operations  some  years  later. 

The  first  distinct  reference  to  foreign  Mis- 
ftAissions  in  sions  in  the  proceedings  of  the  General  Sy- 
General  Synod,"  nod,  occurs  in  the  Minutes  of  June,  1816. 

1816.  The  Synod  had,  indeed,  in  1789,  appointed 

“a  Commission  to  engage,  upon  reasonable 
and  Christian  terms,  one  or  more  missionaries  to  visit  those  who 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


3 


are  dispersed  upon  the  outskirts  of  our  land.”  So  early  as  1800 
the  attention  of  this  Commission  and  the  Synod  was  directed  to 
Canada  as  a  hopeful  field  of  missionary  effort,  and  mission¬ 
aries  were  sent  thither.  These  efforts,  however,  were  not 
directed  to  the  Indians  of  this  country  or  Canada.  In  them  lay. 
no  doubt,  the  germ  of  our  Board  of  Domestic  Missions.  But, 
taken  in  connection  with  what  has  been  already  said,  they 
serve  to  show  that  the  missionary  spirit  was  becoming  active  in 
the  Church. 

In  1816  an  invitation  was  received  from  the 
United  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 

M  issionary  by  the  General  Synod  “  to  appoint  commis- 
Society,  1816.  sioners  to  meet  commissioners  of  the  General 
Assembly,  for  the  purpose  of  arranging  a 
plan  for  the  formation  of  a  Society  for  Foreign  Missions.” 
Seven  commissioners  were  appointed,  five  ministers  and  two 
elders.  The  result  of  their  deliberations  was  the  formation  of 
the  United  Missionary  Society,  “  composed  of  the  Presbyterian, 
Dutch  Reformed  and  Associate  Reformed  Churches,  and  all 
others  who  may  choose  to  join  with  them.”  The  Constitution 
of  the  new  society  was  submitted  to  the  General  Synod  in  1817. 
The  object  stated  therein  was  “To  spread  the  Gospel  among 
the  Indians  of  North  America,  the  inhabitants  of  Mexico  and 
South  America,  and  in  other  portions  of  the  heathen  and  anti- 
Christian  world.”  Missionaries  were  to  be  “elected  from  the 
three  Churches  indiscriminately,”  and  an  annual  report  to  be 
made  to  the  highest  judicatory  of  the  three  denominations  for 
their  information.  The  constitution  was  approved  by  Synod, 
and  it  was  “  recommended  to  all  ministers  and  churches  to  give 
the  measure  their  active  support.”  A  committee  was  also  ap¬ 
pointed,  consisting  of  Dr.  Philip  Milledoler  and  Elder  Stephen 
Van  Rensselaer,  to  meet  with  other  committees  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  the  plan  into  execution.  Thus  was  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church,  for  the  first  time  in  this  country,  formally  com 
mitted  to  the  work  of  executing  the  high  commission  of  her 
Lord  and  Head. 

In  1818  the  above  recommendation  was  earnestly  renewed, 
and  it  was  also  resolved  that,  “  at  some  convenient  time  during 


4 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


the  session  of  every  Synod,  a  missionary  sermon  be  preached 
before  Synod  and  a  collection  be  taken  for  missionary  pur¬ 
poses.”  This  excellent  provision  continued  in  force  until  i860, 
though  the  “collection”  seems  to  have  lapsed  at  an  earlier 
period,  and  many  of  the  most  eminent  names  in  the  ministry 
of  the  Church  are  found  in  the  list  of  preachers. 

In  1826  two  important  acts  were  proposed  : 

Amalgamated  1.  Consenting  to  th£  amalgamation  of  the 
with  American  United  Missionary  Society  with  the  Ameri- 
Board,  1826.  can  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions.  This  was  accomplished  and  the 
United  Society  ceased  to  exist. 

2.  Recommending  to  the  Missionary  Board  of  the  Church, 
which  had  been  hitherto  wholly  domestic  in  its  operations,  “to 
consider  the  propriety  of  taking  measures  to  begin  missionary 
operations  among  the  aborigines  of  our  own  country  and  else¬ 
where.”  Gentle  as  was  this  latter  recommendation,  and  sanc¬ 
tioned  by  the  course  of  other  churches,  it  seems  to  have  fright¬ 
ened  some  in  the  Church  who  afterwards  became  leaders  in  the 
cause  of  Foreign  Missions. 

The  Committee  of  1827  reported  :  “  Your  Committee  are  not 

aware  what  considerations  led  the  last  Synod  to  recommend  a 
Foreign  Mission  by  our  Church  in  her  individual  capacity. 
Yet  as  it  has  been  recommended,  as  the  Board  has  made  pro¬ 
gress  in  preparatory  steps,  and  it  has  gone  before  the  churches, 
they  feel  themselves  to  be  so  delicately  situated  as  to  be  unable 
to  suggest  any  measures  in  relation  to  it,  though  as  a  Commit¬ 
tee  they  consider  it  matter  of  very  doubtful  expediency .” 

It  is  not  difficult,  now,  to  perceive  what  the 
Ca  uses  reasons  were  which  moved  some  in  the 
of  Growing  Church  to  propose  action  of  such  “  doubtful 
Interest.  expediency.”  The  earlier  missions  of  the 
American  Board  had  been  successfully  estab¬ 
lished  ;  through  the  baptism  of  Judson  and  Rice  the  great 
Baptist  denomination  had  become  interested  in  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  and  the  Baptist  Missionary  Union  organized  ;  the  life  and 
death  of  Harriet  Newell,  the  character,  remarkable  career 
and  heroic  sufferings  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Judson ; — these  and 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


5 


many  other  influences  had  awakened  a  widespread  interest  in 
the  subject  throughout  all  the  churches.  Added  to  this  the 
departure  of  Dr.  John  Scudder  for  Ceylon,  in  1819,  his  letters 
and  addresses,  may  easily  be  supposed  to  have  quickened  the 
faith  and  zeal  of  many  in  the  Church  to  which  he  belonged,  and 
to  have  suggested  the  idea  of  a  distinct  call  to  and  responsi¬ 
bility  for  such  work  which  could  only  be  met  by  effort  “in  her 
individual  capacity.”  The  spirit  that  would  finally  lead  to  such 
effort  was  present  and  growing. 

In  1829  the  Rev.  David  Abeel  sailed  for  China  as  a  chaplain 
of  the  American  Seamen’s  Friend’s  Society.  In  1830  he  became 
a  missionary  of  the  American  Board  in  Java.  He  travelled 
much,  in  the  Indian  Archipelago  and  elsewhere,  seeking  hope¬ 
ful  fields  of  labor.  His  character  and  wprk  increased  the 
interest  already  existing.  In  1831  the  Committee  on  Missions 
reported  to  the  General  Synod  :  “We  believe  the  time  is  not 
far  distant  when  it  (a  Foreign  Mission)  may  be  undertaken  with 
good  prospect  of  success.  But  the  committee  are  of  the  opinion 
that  the  time  has  not  yet  arrived.”  It  was  probably  nearer 
than  this  Committee  were  ready  to  believe. 

The  Minutes  of  the  Particular  Synod  of  New  York  for  1832 
contained  “  a  recommendation  of  the  subject  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  to  the  immediate  and  prayerful  consideration  of  the 
General  Synod.”  A  similar  recommendation  was  found  in  the 
Minutes  of  the  Particular  Synod  of  Albany.  As  these  were  the 
only  Synods  at  that  time,  it  was  manifest  that  the  entire 
Church  was,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  awakened  to  the  im¬ 
portance  of  this  subject.  The  statement  of  reasons  for  such 
action  presented  by  the  Synod  of  New  York  could  hardly  be 
improved,  even  at  this  day  of  missionary  zeal  and  progress,  but 
they  cannot  be  given  here. 

To  these  recommendations  the  General  Sy- 
Board  of  the  nod  wisely  listened.  A  committee  was  ap- 
R.  P.  D.  Chu  rch  pointed  at  its  session  in  June  for  the  purpose 
.832.  of  conferring  with  the  American  Board,  and 

in  the  hope  that  such  a  connection  might  be 
formed  with  it  “as  would  enable  us  to  maintain  a  foreign  mis¬ 
sion  of  our  own  and  at  the  same  time  avail  ourselves  of  all  their 


6 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


experience.”  The  proposition  was  cordially  received  by  that 
body,  and  at  the  October  session  of  the  Synod  the  Committee 
were  able  to  report  a  plan  of  co-operation  with  it.  The  plan 
was  approved  and  adopted  by  the  Synod.  A  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  consisting  of  fifteen 
members,  was  appointed,  and  the  whole  subject  was  “  affection¬ 
ately  recommended  to  the  churches  and  ministers  under  the 
care  of  the  Synod,  and  their  prayers  and  exertions  for  the  pro¬ 
motion  and  success  of  Foreign  Missions  earnestly  solicited.” 

II.  PERIOD  OF  COOPERATION. 

As  organized  in  1832,  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Original  Missions  consisted  of  fifteen  members,  nine 
M  embers.  ministers  and  six  laymen.  They  were  among 
the  most  honored  representatives  of  the 
Church, — Drs.  Knox,  McMurray,  De  Witt,  Ludlow,  Matthews, 
Ferris ;  Revs.  Strong,  Gosman  and  Dubois  ;  Messrs.  Peter  D. 
Vroom,  Isaac  Young,  Wm  R.  Thompson,  J.  V.  B.  Varick,  John 
D.  Keese  and  Jeremiah  Johnson. 

Under  the  agreement  with  the  American  Board,  the  con¬ 
tributions  of  our  churches  were  allowed  “to  flow  into  our 
own  treasury,  to  be  appropriated  through  the  medium  of  the 
American  Board  to  missionaries  from  our  own  Church,  or  to 
such  missionaries  and  such  objects  as  may  be  speciaily  selected 
and  approved.”  Missionaries  approved  by  our  Board  were  to 
be  recommended  to  and  accepted  by  the  Prudential  Committee, 
and  the  conduct  of  the  Missions  was  to  be  left  in  the  hands  of 
that  Committee.  Thus  the  new  Board  was  to  have  all  the  ad¬ 
vantage  of  the  experience  and  facilities  of  the  older. 

The  American  Board,  as  has  been  seen,  al- 
First  ready  numbered  among  its  missionaries  two 

Missionaries,  honored  sons  of  the  Dutch  Church,  the  Rev. 

John  Scudder,  M.D.,  at  Panditeripo,  Ceylon, 
and  the  Rev.  David  Abeel,  D.  D.  Dr.  Scudder  was  a  member 
of  the  Franklin  Street  Church  .when,  in  1819,  he  left  this  coun¬ 
try  for  Ce)don  as  a  medical  missionary  He  had  afterwards 
been  ordained  by  brethren  in  the  field,  *and  had  been  remark¬ 
ably  successful  both  as  preacher  and  physician.  Dr.  Abeel  had 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


7 


been  educated  in  our  Theological  Seminary  and  pastor  of  the 
church  at  Athens,  N.  Y.  Going  to  China  in  1829  as  a  Chaplain 
of  the  Seamen’s  Friends’  Society,  he  entered  the  service  of  the 
American  Board  at  Canton  in  1830,  and  under  its  direction  had 
voyaged  extensively  in  the  Indian  Archipelago  and  to  Siam,  in 
search  of  suitable  openings  for  mission  work. 

One  of  the  first  steps  taken  by  the  new  Board,  after  its  organ¬ 
ization,  was  formally  to  take,  in  April,  1833,  these  two  brethren 
“  under  its  patronage.”  A  letter  addressed  to  the  ministers  of 
the  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  calling  their  attention  to  “the 
state  of  the  heathen  in  these  parts;1’  ’  was  shortly  after  received 
from  Dr.  Scudder  and  published  by  order  of  the  Board  By  its 
direction,  also,  Dr.  Livingston’s  great  sermon,  preached  in  1804 
and  entitled  “The  Everlasting  Gospel”,  was  republished  and 
widely  circulated.  Dr.  Abeel  was  invited  to  return  to  this 
country  and  present  the  cause  of  Missions  among  the  churches. 
The  interest  thus  fostered  grew  apace,  and  the  Board  soon  felt 
warranted  in  attempting  to  establish  a  new  Mission,  to  be 
manned  entirely  by  the  Church  and  supported  by  it. 

For  such  an  enterprise  the  way  soon  opened. 

M  ission  to  The  islands  of  Netherlands  India  —  the 

Borneo,  1836.  Dutch  East  Indies — were  represented  by  Dr. 

Abeel  as  offering  most  “delightful  oppor¬ 
tunities”  for  such  a  Mission.  It  was  hoped  that  some  special 
advantages  might  accrue  to  it  if  established  under  the  Dutch 
government  by  missionaries  of  this  Church.  Dr.  Abeel  was 
therefore  requested  by  the  Board  to  visit  Holland,  on  his  way 
home,  and  ascertain  how  far  it  might  be  desirable  and  practic¬ 
able  to  cooperate  with  the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society  in 
the  islands  of  Java,  Borneo,  Sumatra,  etc.  Out  of  this  grew 
the  Mission  to  Borneo. 

Four  missionaries,  Revs.  Jacob  Ennis,  Elihu  Doty,  Elbert 
Nevius  and  William  Youngblood,  with  their  wives,  and  Miss 
Condict,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Nevius,  formed  the  first  party.  They 
had,  before  their  departure,  circulated  freely  among  the  churches 
and  by  their  addresses  greatly  stimulated  missionary  zeal.  The 
Classis  of  Poughkeepsie,  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Broome 
Street  Church  of  New  York,  and  the  First  Church  of  Fhiladel- 


8 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


phia,  of  which  Dr.  Bethune  was  pastor,  all  offered  to  support 
missionaries  of  their  own,  the  last  named  choosing  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Nevius.  The  party  sailed  during  the  session  of  the  General 
Synod  of  1836.  Additions  were  made  in  1838,  1840  and  1842. 
In  all  nine  missionaries  were  sent  out,  all  but  two  being  married, 
together  with  Miss  Condict. 

But  the  hope  of  advantage  from  locating 
Discontinued  under  the  Dutch  government  proved  delu- 
•849.  sive.  The  opening  of  China  in  1842  seemed 

to  offer  larger  opportunities,  and  Messrs. 
Doty  and  Pohlman  were  sent  to  Amoy  in  1844.  The  Mission 
was  reduced  in  1849,  by  sickness  and  death,  to  a  single  member, 
the  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Steele.  He  was  then  recalled,  to  this  country 
for  the  benefit  of  his  health  and  to  seek  reinforcements.  All 
efforts  in  this  direction  failed,  and  this  first  mission  was  aban¬ 
doned.  Of  its  missionaries  one  still  survives,  the  Rev  Wm. 
H.  Steele,  D.  D. ,  afterward  for  fourteen  years  the  President 
of  the  Board. 

The  disappointment  felt  at  the  failure  of  this  Mission 
would  probably  have  been  more  keen  had  not  a  second  been 
already  established,  with  far  brighter  prospects  of  success. 

The  close  of  the  “Opium  War,”  by  which 
Amoy  Mission,  five  ports  in  China  were  opened  to  foreign 
China,  1842,  trade  and  residence  in  1842,  found  Dr.  Abeel 
at  Macao.  He  immediately  proceeded  to 
Amoy  and  established  himself  on  the  island  of  Kolongsu,  then 
in  possession  of  British  troops,  and  opposite  the  city  of  Amoy. 
There  he  was  joined,  in  1844,' by  Messrs.  Doty  and  Pohlman 
from  Borneo,  where  their  labors  had  been  chiefly  directed  toward 
Chinese  settlers.  The  first  converts,  two  old  men,  were  bap¬ 
tized  by  Mr.  Pohlman  in  1S46.  The  first  church  building  erected 
by  Protestants  at  Amoy,  “probably  the  first  in  China  for 
Chinese  worshippers  only,”  was  built  by  him  with  funds  ob¬ 
tained  from  this  country,  and  still  stands  in  the  heart  of  the 
city  as  his  monument. 

In  1851,  a  church  had  been  gathered  of  eleven  members. 
This  was  completely  organized  by  the  setting  apart  of  elders 
and  deacons  in  1856.  In  1857,  the  Mission  and  its  missionaries, 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


9 


with  their  full  and  hearty  concurrence,  were  handed  over  by  the 
American  Board  to  the  independent  care  and  control  of  the 
reorganized  Board  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church. 

In  1847,  the  Board  was  invited,  by  the  Pru- 
Arcot  Missions  dential  Committee  of  the  American  Board, 
India,  1853.  to  consider  the  expediency  of  undertaking 
a  Mission  among  the  Tamil-speaking  people 
of  southern  India,  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  its  Madras 
Mission,  to  be  composed  entirely  of  missionaries  from  the 
Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church.’’  Dr.  Scudder  had  been 
transferred  from  Ceylon  to  Madras  in  1836,  and  had  made 
extended  tours  through  the  regions  lying  west  and  south,  preach  - 
ing  the  Gospel  to  great  multitudes,  distributing  tracts,  and 
healing  the  sick.  In  this  work  he  had  been  joined,  in  1846,  by 
his  eldest  son,  Henry  Martyn.  A  wide  and  open  field  had  been 
developed  by  their  labors,  and  to  it  the  attention  of  the  Board 
was  now  directed.  On  November  9th  the  Board  resolved  that 
the  establishment  of  such  a  Mission  would  be  expedient.  In 
1850,  Henry  Martyn  Scudder  removed  to  Arcot,  where  he  was 
joined,  in  1852,  by  his  brother  William  from  Ceylon,  and  a 
second  brother  Joseph  from  America.  In  1S53.  the  Mission  was 
constituted,  and  in  1854  the  Classis  of  Arcot  was  organized. 
The  stations  of  Arcot,  Arni,  Chittoor,  Coonoor  and  Vellore  were 
all  occupied  before  1857.  In  that  year  this  Mission  also,  with  its 
missionaries,  was  surrendered  to  the  independent  Board  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church,  of  which  they  were  sons  and  ministers. 

It  is  impossible,  in  the  space  allowed,  to  give,  even  in  briefest 
outline,  the  history  of  the  two  Missions  thus  adopted  by  the 
Church  as  her  own.  But  their  growth  during  the  more  than  forty 
years  that  have  supervened  shows  how  richly  they  have  been 
blessed  of  God  and  have  rewarded  the  faith  and  benevolence  of 
the  Church  that  claimed  them  for  its  own  and  took  them  under 
its  fostering  care. 

The  arrangement  entered  into  with  the 
Opposing  American  Board,  continued  in  operation, 
Tendencies.  with  uninterrupted  harmony  and  mutual 
satisfaction  to  the  two  Boards,  until  1857. 
The  interest  and  contributions  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Churches 


IO 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


were  concentrated  on  the  Missions  in  India  and  China.  The 
missionaries  were  all  from  their  membership,  and  naturally- 
looked  to  the  Dutch  Church  for  their  support  and  that  of  their 
work.  Other  churches,  of  other  denominations,  also  cooperated 
with  the  American  Board.  The  fond  dream  of  many — of  one 
national,  undenominational  agency  for  the  prosecution  of 
Foreign  Missions — was  still  cherished.  There  seemed  nothing 
in  the  constitution,  or  in  the  conduct,  of  the  American  Board  to 
prevent  the  indefinite  continuance  and  enlargement  of  such 
cooperation. 

It  was  a  fact,  however,  that  union  with  so  large  a  body  of 
Christians  and  churches  contributing  to  the  American  Board, 
seemed  in  a  measure  to  relieve  the  cooperating  denomination  of 
a  sense  of  responsibility,  since  its  deficiencies  could  be  and  some¬ 
times  were  made  up  from  other  sources,  though  on  the  whole 
our  churches  contributed  much  more  than  the  amounts  expended 
on  those  Missions.  There  were  many,  therefore,  and  in  increas¬ 
ing  numbers,  who  were  convinced  that  greater  things  would  be 
done,  and  the  entire  Church  roused  to  a  deeper  sense  of  respon¬ 
sibility,  if  its  missionary  work  should  be  conducted  indepen¬ 
dently  by  a  Board  of  its  own.  They  therefore  desired  the 
termination  of  the  relations  with  the  American  Board  which  had 
existed  harmoniously  for  twenty-five  years,  and  the  institution 
of  a  distinct  organization. 

For  such  independent  action  the  time  was 
Independent  ripe,  and  the  pressure  at  length  became  too 
Action  strong  to  be  resisted.  In  1856,  the  Board  of 

Proposed.  Foreign  Missions,  thoroughly  convinced  of 
1856.  the  wisdom  and  desirability  of  such  a  step, 

unanimously  recommended  “that  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Synod  conduct  their  Foreign  Missions  in  an  independent 
manner.”  An  exceedingly  able  report  from  the  pen  of  Dr. 
Isaac  Ferris,  its  President,  presented  with  great  force  the 
reasons  for  such  a  proposition.  But  the  Synod  was  not  then 
ready  to  take  action,  and  the  whole  subject  was  referred  to  the 
next  General  Synod. 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


II 


This  step  was  taken  in  1857.  The  General 
Separation  Synod  of  that  year  met  at  Ithaca,  and  re- 
Accomplished  ceived  from  the  hand  of  the  late  Dr.  Cham- 
1857.  bers,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  011 

Foreign  Missions,  a  convincing  and  masterly 
report  in  advocacy  of  such  separation,  and  elaborating  the 
reasons  for  it  adduced  by  Dr.  Ferris.  The  discussions  were 
earnest,  elevated  and  of  a  highly  spiritual  tone.  The  Holy 
Spirit’s  presence  was  distinctly  manifested,  and  under  His 
guidance  this  course  was  resolved  upon,  though  not  without 
dissent  from  those  who  thought  the  time  had  not  yet  come,  or 
clung  with  affection  to  the  Board  with  which,  and  its  work, 
they  had  been  so  long  and  happily  associated.  A  committee 
was  appointed  to  negotiate  for  a  separation.  A  satisfactory 
agreement  was  arrived  at  and  the  two  Boards  parted  company 
with  mutual  expressions  of  regard,  gratitude  for  the  past  and 
hope  for  the  future.  The  history  of  the  Board  and  its  Missions, 
in  succeeding  years,  shows  how  amply,  in  the  providence  of 
God,  the  hopes  of  that  day  have  been  realized,  and  the  wisdom 
vindicated. 

A  simple  comparison  may  here  be  introduced, 
Comparison  to  show  how  the  Church  and  its  benevolence 
1832-57.  toward  Foreign  Missions  had  increased  dur¬ 
ing  the  twenty-five  years  of  cooperative  ac¬ 
tion.  In  1832,  when  the  first  organization  was  accomplished, 
the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  reported  15,800  families  and  20,222 
communicants.  From  December,  1832,  to  May,  1833,  these 
gave  for  Foreign  Missions  $2,106.12  1-2.  In  1857  the  number  of 
families  was  32,579  and  of  communicants  44,443.  The  contri¬ 
butions  for  Foreign  Missions  for  the  year  were  $12,303.99,  and 
for  the  whole  period,  $245,469.  Seventeen  missionaries  fifteen 
wives,  and  one  unmarried  woman,  thirty-three  in  all,  had  been 
sent  to  Borneo,  China,  and  India. 


12 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 

III.  PERIOD  OF  INDEPENDENT  ACTION. 

The  Board  was  reorganized  by  the  addition 
The  Board  of  nine  members,  making  twenty-four  in 
Reconstituted,  all,  and  was  incorporated  by  the  Legislature 

of  New  York  in  i860.  The  Hon.  Theodore 
Frelinghuysen  was  elected  President,  Dr.  Isaac  Ferris,  Corres¬ 
ponding  Secretary,  and  Mr.  Ezra  A.  Hayt,  Treasurer.  The 
entire  support  of  the  Amoy  and  Arcot  Missions  was  at  once  as¬ 
sumed,  and  it  was  unanimously  agreed,  informally,  in  February, 
1 858,  “that  the  committee  feel  themselves  bound  to  take  the 
responsibility  to  send  any  qualified  young  men  who  might  ®ffer 
themselves  for  this  work.’’ 

The  sincerity  of  this  pledge  was  soon  put  to 
Opening  in  the  test.  In  January  of  the  following  year 
Japan.  the  Board  received  “  an  intensely  interesting 

letter  ’’  from  the  Rev.  E.  W.  Syle,  relative 
to  the  commencement  of  a  Mission  to  Japan.  Similar  letters 
were  received  from  Dr.  S.  Wells  Williams,  as  well  as  from  other 
sources.  The  brethren  named,  both  missionaries  in  China,  had 
agreed,  while  on  a  visit  to  Nagasaki,  to  write  letters  to  the 
Boards  of  the  Presbyterian,  Episcopal  and  Reformed  Churches 
of  this  co.untry,  urging  them  to  send  missionaries  to  Japan.  The 
matter  was  taken,  under  serious  consideration  by  the  Board, 
especially  for  the  reason  that,  owing  to  privileges  long  extended 
by  the  Japanese  to  the  Dutch  at  Nagasaki,  and  the  intercourse 
maintained  with  them,  it  was  urged  and  might  be  hoped  that 
missionaries  from  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  would  be  re¬ 
ceived,  if  not  with  special  favor  yet  with  less  disfavor  than 
those  of  other  churches.  Yet,  so  far  as  the  Board  knew  or  could 
see,  there  were  neither  men  nor  means  for  the  undertaking. 

The  way  was  opened,  in  the  providence  of 
Remarkable  God,  in  a  remarkable  manner.  In  January, 
Providences.  1859,  the  Rev.  S.  R.  Brown,  formerly  mana¬ 
ger  of  the  Morrison  Chinese  School  at  Can¬ 
ton,  but  at  that  time  pastor  of  the  Church  at  Owasco  Outlet, 
offered  his  services  to  go  to  Japan  with  his  wife  and  daughter. 
At  the  same  meeting  a  letter  was  read  from  Mr.  Thomas  C. 
Doremus,  an  elder  in  the  South  Church,  New  York,  offering  to 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


13 


sustain  a  missionary  in  Japan  for  a  period  of  five  years.  Another 
gentleman  in  the  same  church  offered  to  sustain  another  mis¬ 
sionary  for  the  same  period  in  the  same  country.  The  latter 
lived  long  enough  to  bless  God  for  the  wonderful  results  of 
missionary  work  m  Japan  for  which  his  far  sighted  liberality 
helped  to  prepare  the  way.  The  church  itself,  also,  to  which 
these  gentlemen  belonged,  agreed  to  maintain  a  third  mis¬ 
sionary.  Small  wonder  that  it  was  immediately  resolved 
“  that  this  Committee  will  forthwith  commence  the  establish¬ 
ment  of  a  Mission  in  Japan.” 

In  May,  1859,  the  first  missionaries  sailed. 

'  M  ission  to  The  party  consisted  of  Dr.  Brown,  with  his 

Japan.  1859.  wife  and  daughter,  the  Rev.  G.  F.  Verbeck 
and  D.  B.  Simmons.  M.D.,  and  their  wives. 
Drs.  Brown  and  Simmons  proceeded  to  Kanagawa,  near  the 
city  (then  a  village)  of  Yokohama,  and  Dr.  Verbeck  to  Nagasaki. 
Similar  companies  were  sent  from  the  Presbyterian  and  Epis¬ 
copal  churches,  and  all  arrived  in  Japan  within  a  very  few 
months  of  each  other.  Into  the  history  of  the  Mission  thus 
established,  and  divided  into  two — the  North  and  South  Japan 
Missions — in  1889,  it  is  impossible  to  enter  here. 

For  many  years  these  three  continued  to  be  the  only  Missions 
under  the  care  of  the  Board,  though  opportunities  and  invita¬ 
tions  were  not  wanting  to  engage  in  missionary  enterprises  else¬ 
where.  Manv  of  them  were  most  inviting  in  their  character, 
bu-t.  with  two  exceptions,  the  Board  has  felt  compelled  to 
desline  them  all,  through  lack  of  means  to  incur  additional 
responsibility  and,  at  the  same  time  meet  its  obligations  to  the 
Missions  already  under  its  care.  As  these  are  a  part  of  its 
history,  it  may  be  of  interest  briefly  to  mention  some  of  these 
opportunities  offered  to  and  declined  by  the  Board. 

So  early  as  in  1858  an  application  was  re- 
South  Africa,  ceived  from  the  Rev.  Andrew  Murray,  of 
1858.  South  Africa,  to  furnish  the  Mission  (of  the 

Netherlands)  there  with  missionaries  from 
the  Dutch  Church  in  this  coun:ry,  to  aid  them  in  their  work. 
Two  years  later  the  Rev.  Daniel  Findley,  a  missionary  of  the  A. 
B.  C.  F.  M.  to  the  Zulus  of  Southeastern  Africa,  presented  in 


A  CENTURY  OE  MISSIONS 


*4 

person  a  similar  request,  with  “  interesting  statements  touching 
the  condition  and  needs  of  the  Dutch  churches  in  that  region” 
(Natal).  In  neither  case  was  the  Board  able  to  give  a  favorable 
response. 

In  the  winter  and  spring  of  1864  there  oc- 
M  issionary  curred  a  remarkable  “outburst  of  zeal  for 
Ship,  1864.  missionary  labor  on  a  grand  scale”  among 
the  churches  in  the  Classes  of  Holland  and 
Wisconsin.  Africa  was  to  be  the  objective  point  of  the  new 
missionary  movement.  A  brother,  then  a  licentiate,  now  and 
for  long  years  highly  honored  in  the  ministry  of  the  Church, 
offered  himself  and  was  ordained  for  the  service.  A  plan  was 
formed,  and  strongly  favored  by  Dr.  Van  Raalte  and  others  of 
influence,  for  the  building  of  a  ship  that  would  reach  the  ocean 
through  the  Welland  Canal,  and  convey  missionaries,  etc.,  to 
and  from  the  field.  The  General  Synod,  in  June,  1894,  by  for¬ 
mal  resolution,  expressed  its  pleasure  and  devout  thanksgiving 
to  Almighty  God  for  this  determination,  and  commended  the 
enterprise  to  the  liberality  of  the  churches.  A  model  was  pro¬ 
cured  in  New  York,  and  the  keel  of  the  projected  ship  was  laid 
at  Holland,  Mich.,  on  June  24,  1864,  amid  much  enthusiasm 
and  appropriate  religious  exercises,  in  which  the  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  Board,  the  Rev.  Philip  Peltz,  D.D.,  and  Dr. 
J.  V.  N.  Talmage,  of  the  Amoy  Mission,  participated.  The  ship 
was  never  built.  The  keel,  laid  with  such  enthusiasm,  was 
allowed  to  rot.  Nothing  material  appeared  permanently  to 
result  from  this  movement,  though  considerable  contributions 
found  their  way  into  the  treasury  of  the  Board.  But  there  can 
be  no  doubt — there  is  none  in  the  minds  of  those  best  convers¬ 
ant  with  the  facts — that  a  mighty  spiritual  and  missionary  in¬ 
fluence  was  exerted  among  our  Holland  brethren,  the  effects  of 
which  are  visible  to  this  day. 

It  would  be  unjust  to  pass  over,  in  such  a 
Japanese  record  as  this,  the  connection  of  this  Board 
Students,  witn  the  education  of  young  Japanese  stud- 
1866.  ents  in  this  country.  Two  young  men  pre¬ 

sented  themselves  in  the  office  of  the  Board, 
in  1866,  to  Dr.  Ferris,  then  Corresponding  Secretary.  They 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


15 


brought  letters  of  introduction  from  Dr.  Verbeck,  stating  that 
“  they  were  of  good  family  and  worthy  of  attention.”  They 
had  come  at  the  peril  of  their  lives,  and  brought  $100.  They 
sqid  they  had  come  to  “  learn  navigation,  and  how  to  make  big 
ships  and  big  guns.”  The  matter  was  laid  before  the  Board  by 
Dr.  Ferris  and  the  support  and  care  of  the  young  men  assumed 
until  word  could  be  had  from  Japan.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  a  great  movement.  About  500  Japanese  students,  within  a 
few  years,  entered  the  schools  cf  the  United  States.  Of  these, 
more  than  200  passed  through  the  office  of  the  Board. 

Much  interest  wTas  awakened  at  a  meeting  of 
M  exico,  1870.  the  Executive  Committee  in  August,  1870, 

*  by  the  presence  of  two  Mexicans  with  an 

interpreter.  Interesting  statements  were  made  by  them  con¬ 
cerning  a  work  in  progress  for  six  years  in  the  City  of  Mexico 
and  its  vicinity.  More  than  forty  congregations  had  been 
gathered,  averaging  forty  souls.  They  had  separated  from  the 
Roman  Church,  and  conducted  their  worship  after  the  pattern 
of  the  Fulton  Street  Prayer  Meeting.  They  sought  to  be  taken 
under  the  care  of  the  Board.  The  question  of  thus  beginning  a 
new  Mission  in  Mexico  was  held  under  advisement  for  several 
months,  but  the  Board  being  heavily  in  debt,  with  no  prospect 
of  relief,  the  proposition  was  ultimately  declined. 

In  1870,  in  common  with  other  similar  socie- 
American  ties,  the  Board  accepted  the  invitation  of 
Indians,  1870.  the  general  government  to  nominate  agents 
among  the  Indian  tribes  of  the  West,  in  pur¬ 
suance  of  what  was  styled  “  General  Grant’s  Quaker  policy.” 
The  Government  agreed  to  appoint  and  pay  the  agents  so  nomi¬ 
nated,  the  Boards  “to  advise  the  agent,  superintend  his  work  as 
far  as  possible,  and  to  send  out  and  maintain  Christian  school 
teachers  and  missionaries.”  The  Pima  and  Maricopa  Agency, 
having  5,000  Indians,  and  the  Colorado  River  Agency,  having 
some  23,000  altogether,  were  offered  to  and  accepted  by  the 
Board.  The  plan  worked  with  measurable  but  diminishing  satis 
faction  for  some  years.  Difficulties  arose  which  were  found  to  be 
insuperable,  and,  in  October,  1880,  the  Board  formally  withdrew 
“  from  all  co-operation  with  the  government.” 


i6 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


In  1884,  the  recent  opening  of  Korea  was 
Korea,  ;884.  drawing  to  the  “Hermit  Kingdom”  the 
eyes  of  those  who  desired  the  evangelization 
of  its  people  and  longed  to  attempt  it.  One  such,  a  graduate  of 
our  Theological  Seminary  at  New  Brunswick,  (the  Rev.  Horace 
G.  Underwood,)  made  application  to  the  Board,  in  February  of 
that  year,  to  be  sent  thither  as  a  missionary  of  the  Board.  But 
it  was  not  deemed  either  expedient  or  even  possible  to  establish 
a  new  Mission  at  that  time,  even  by  The  appointment  of  a  single 
missionary.  The  application  was,  therefore,  reluctantly  de¬ 
clined,  and  Mr.  Underwood  cordially  recommended  to  the 
Presbyterian  Board,  which  was  known  to  be  considering  the 
establishment  of  such  a  Mission.  The  Reformed  Church  has 
reason  to  rejoice  in  the  work  he  has  been  permitted  to  do  in 
that  field,  though  unable  to  send  him  forth  to  it  herself. 

The  same  subject  was  brought  before  the 
Korea  again  Board  again  in  January,  1891.  Inthatmonth 
1891.  a  proposition  was  received  from  a  gentleman 

of  known  liberality  in  the  city  of  New  York 
to  furnish  the  sum  of  $5,000,  “  on  condition  and  for  the  purpose 
of  establishing  a  Mission  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Korea.” 
But,  aside  from  the  fact  that  other  churches  already  had  flourish¬ 
ing  missions  in  that  country,  the  claims  of  its  existing  missions 
were  too  great,  and  were  too  scantily  met,  to  admit  of  its  under¬ 
taking  this  new  responsibility.  The  proposition  was  therefore 
necessarily  though  reluctantly  declined. 

Similar  reasons  delayed  the  assumption  by 
Arabian  the  Board  of  the  Arabian  Mission.  In  1889, 

Mission,  just  before  the  meeting  of  the  General  Synod 

1889.  in  June,  Prof.  J.  G.  Lansing,  of  our  Theolog¬ 

ical  Seminary  in  New  Brunswick,  appeared 
before  a  special  meeting  of  the  Board,  together  with  three 
students  of  the  Seminary — Messrs.  Cantine,  S.  M.  Zwemer  and 
Phelps.  Their  desire  was  to  establish  a  mission  among  some 
Arabic- speaking  people,  with  special  reference  to  Moslems  and 
slaves.  Their  personal  presentati<5h  of  the  matter,  accompanied 
as  it  was  by  the  offer  of  their  own  services,  was  listened  to  with 
profound  interest  and  sympathy  by  the  members  of  the  Board 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


17 


who  were  present.  The  whole  matter  was  referred  to  the 
General  Synod,  where  it  was  received  with  interest  equally 
profound.  Though  it  was  evidently  the  desire  of  the  Synod  that 
it  should  do  so,  the  Board,  to  whom  the  subject  was  referred 
back,  did  not  then  see  the  way  clear  to  incur  the  responsibility 
of  a  new  mission  at  that  time.  Nor  was  it  till  1894  that,  in 
accordance  with  the  strong  desire  of  many  throughout  the 
Church,  and  by  direction  of  the  General  Synod  itself,  the 
Board  accepted  the  management  of  the  Mission  already  estab¬ 
lished  and  in  good  working  order. 

Three  missionaries  and  their  wives,  seven 
Comparative  catechists,  two  churches  and  two  parochial 
Statement,  schools,  were  received  at  Amoy  from  the 
1858-1896.  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  in  1859.  With  the  Arcot 
Mission  were  received  five  missionaries  and 
their  wives,  and  one  unmarried  lady;  five  churches,  with  117 
communicants,  five  native  helpers,  eight  school  masters  and  four 
colporteurs.  The  following  table  shows  the  increase  God  has 
given  up  to  January,  1900  ; 


Comparative, 

Summary, 

1858  1868 

1858- 

1878 

1900. 

1888 

00 

O' 

00 

1900 

Stations,  ..... 

6 

IO 

11 

1 1 

22 

23 

Out-Stations  and  Preaching  Places,  2 

l8 

49 

123 

241 

230 

Missionaries,  men, 

Missionaries,  married  women, 

.  8 

x4 

16 

28 

36 

35 

6 

12 

14 

21 

31 

31 

Missionaries,  unmarried  women. 
Native  Ordained  Ministers, 

1 

.... 

7 

9 

20 

26 

•  •  •  • 

4 

6 

26 

3° 

31 

Other  Native  Helpers,  men, 

22 

76 

86 

!73 

21 1 

237 

Native  Helpers,  women, 

•  »  •  • 

2 

10 

47 

41 

1 12 

Churches,  .... 

7 

*3 

3i 

47 

47 

39 

Communicants,  .... 

297 

816 

U563 

4.559 

5,564 

4,597 

Boarding  School,  boys, 

. 

2 

1 

7 

IO 

10 

Scholars,  ..... 

•  •  •  • 

55 

40 

308 

5*7 

577 

Boarding  School,  girls,  . 

.  .  . 

1 

3 

5 

10 

10 

Scholars, . 

•  •  •  • 

46 

97 

300 

456 

45i 

Theological  Shudents,  . 

•  .  .  .  « 

7 

l9 

32 

61 

50 

Day  Schools,  .... 

6 

17 

44 

106 

201 

■63 

Scholars, . 

Hospitals  and  Dispensaries, 

88 

4i3 

Ii34I 

2,162 

6,059 

5,7J5 

•  •  •  • 

1 

1 

.  .  •  • 

4 

6 

Patients  Treated. 

■  •  •  •  • 

15,507 

9.673 

.... 

18,046 

26,622 

Native  Contributions, 

.... 

Si, 134 

$i,59° 

$8,325  $ 

w 

0 

Cn  . 
00 

11,136 

The  whole  number  of  missionaries  connected  with  the 


Board  from  the  beginning  is  196.  Of  these  82  were  men,  71 
married  and  43  unmarried  women.  Of  the  total  number,  17 
went  to  the  Borneo  Mission,  51  to  China,  58  to  India,  57  to 
Japan,  and  13  to  Arabia. 


i8 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


In  no  particular  has  the  growth  been  greater 
Woman’s  Work  or  more  marked  than  in  that  of  work  for 
for  Women.  women  in  our  mission  fields.  And  any 
sketch,  however  slight,  of  the  Board’s  his¬ 
tory,  would  be  fatally  defective  that  did  not  make  mention  of 
the  Woman’s  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  Dr.  Abeel,  returning 
from  China  in  1834,  visited  London,  and  so  interested  Christian 
women  there  in  the  condition  of  women  in  the  Far  Fast  that  the 
Society  for  Promoting  Female  Education  in  the  Bast  was  organ¬ 
ized  the  following  year.  In  1861  the  Woman’s  Union  Missionary 
Society  of  America  for  Heathen  Lands  was  organized  in  New 
York,  chiefly  through  the  efforts  and  zeal  of  Mrs.  Thomas  C. 
Doremus,  a  member  of  the  Reformed  Church,  who  became  its 
first  President.  In  June,  1871,  the  Board  directed  its  Corre¬ 
sponding  Secretary  “to  prepare  a  Constitution  for  Woman’s 
Societies  Auxiliary  to  this  Board.’’ 

It  was  not  till  January,  1875,  however,  that 
Woman’s  the  Woman’s  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of 
Board,  1875.  our  Church  was  organized.  In  that  month  a 
few  earnest  souls  met  in  New  York,  in  the 
midst  of  storm  and  rain,  and  established  this  Board  which,  for 
twenty-one  years,  has  been  the  invaluable  and  indispensable 
helper  of  Synod’s  Board.  Its  efforts  were  immediately  directed 
to  the  formation  of  Auxiliaries  and  Mission  Bands  in  the  several 
churches,  and  as  the  result  of  continuous  labor,  it  was  able  to 
report  in  June,  1900,  the  existence  of  569  such  auxiliaries.  In 
1880,  when  the  Board  was  hard  pressed  financially,  it  assumed 
the  support  of  all  the  work  for  women  and  girls  in  all  our 
mission  fields.  That  responsibility  it  still  cheerfully  assumes, 
though  the  cost  has  increased  from  about  $5,500  to  more  than 
$30,000  per  year.  Its  special  contributions,  also,  for  the  erection 
of  schools,  chapels,  dwellings,  etc.,  have  been  many  and  gener¬ 
ous,  amounting  to  many  thousands  of  dollars.  The  total  of  its 
receipts, 'from  the  beginning,  is  $498,479,^3  May,  1900.  In 
1899  it  received  from  Mr.  Robert  Schell  of  New  York,  a  dona¬ 
tion  of  $10,000  for  the  building  and  equipment  of  the  Mary 
Taber  Schell  Hospital  for  women,  at  Vellore,  India.  In  Jan¬ 
uary,  1900,  its  Twenty-fifth  anniversary  was  celebrated  with 
appopriate  religious  services  and  a  Birthday  Reception. 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS  1 9 

The  financial  history  of  the  Beard  has  been 
Finances.  characterized  by  three  principal  features  : 

i.  Constant  pressure  and  difficulty,  amount¬ 
ing  often  to  extremity.  2.  Signal  deliverances.  3.  Steady 
growth  in  receipts,  through  the  growing  interest  and  liberality 
of  the  Church. 

It  would  be  amusing  if  it  were  not  so  painful 
Pressure.  to  note,  in  the  records  of  its  meetings,  how 
often  the  evidences  of  embarrassment  and 
sometimes  desperate  straits  appear ;  how  often  appeals  -were 
ordered  to  the  churches,  showing  “  the  immediate  and  pressing 
wants  of  the  Board,” — how  often,  too,  “the  contraction  of  its 
work,”  “the  giving  up  of  a  Mission,”  and  even  “  the  recall  of 
a  sufficient  number  of  missionaries  from  the  field,”  have  been 
presented  as  the  only  and  sad  alternative. 

But  side  by  side  with  these  gloomy  passages, 
Relief.  like  gleams  of  light  appear  the  notices  of 
help  received,  often  in  ways  totally  unex¬ 
pected  and  of  a  character  to  fill  the  heart  with  gratitude  and 
wonder.  During  the  dark  days  of  the  civil  war,  perhaps  the 
darkest  the  Board  has  ever  seen,  there  are  gleams  like  these  : 
In  1862  the  London  Missionary  Society  offered  ^200  for  that 
and  the  following  year,  for  the  salary  of  Dr.  Jared  W.  Scudder. 
In  1863  the  English  Presbyterian  Committee  placed  ^2,000  at 
the  service  of  the  Amoy  Mission,  ‘‘in  case  of  any  special  need 
arising  out  of  our  civil  troubles.”  Even  the  native  Christians 
in  India  came  to  the  help  of  the  Board  in  1862  and  pledged  $Soo 
for  the  return  of  Dr.  Jared  Scudder. 

When  in  1866  the  Board  found  itself  oppressed  and  over¬ 
whelmed  by  a  debt  of  $47,000,  and  anxious  meetings  were  held 
to  consider  expedients  for  relief,  one  of  those  meetings  “was 
electrified  by  the  announcement  by  Dr.  T.  W.  Chambers  that  a 
member  of  the  Collegiate  Church,  (Mr.  Warren  Ackerman), 
had  that  morning  engaged  to  give  $46,500  to  remove  the  debt 
of  the  Board,  and  $10,000  to  be  invested  for  the  support  of  the 
Missions  in  the  future.”  Prayer  was  turned  to  praise-  -thanks¬ 
giving  to  God  and  thanks  to  the  generous  giver.  The  tidings 
were  received  with  tears  of  thankful  joy  in  India  and  China. 


20 


A  CENTURY  OF  MISSIONS 


In  1S80  a  debt  of  almost  equal  amount  had  accumulated. 
A  General  Missionary  Conference  (the  first  of  the  kind),  was 
held  in  Poughkeepsie,  at  which  the  state  of  each  Mission  and 
of  the  treasury  was  presented  in  carefully  prepared  papers.  It 
proved  to  be  an  occasion  of  thrilling  interest.  A  committee 
was  appointed,  with  the  late  Dr.  Chambers  as  chairman,  by 
which  the  amount  of  the  debt  was  raised  and  the  Board  again 
relieved  of  its  heavy  and  discouraging  burden.  More  recently, 
iu  1892,  and  still  later,  in  1895,  debts  of  nearly  equal  amount 
have  been  raised  through  the  instrumentality  of  committees 
appointed  by  the  General  Synod  and  the  liberality  of  the 
Church. 

Noth  withstanding  these  recurring  debts, — 
Progress.  due  largely  in  the  first  instance  to  the  dis¬ 
turbed  state  of  the  currency  during  the  war 
for  the  Union,  and  subsequently  to  the  rapid  growth  of  the 
Missions,  outstripping  the  ability  of  the  Board  to  keep  pace 
with  it, — there  has  been  a  continued,  if  not  uniform,  growth  in 
the  contributions  of  the  Church  for  its  Foreign  Mission  work. 
The  receipts  of  the  Board  during  the  first  decade  of  independ¬ 
ent  action,  from  1858-67,  were  $469,057  ;  from  1868-77,  $644,572  ; 
from  1878-87,  $745,428;  from  1888-97,  $1,150,197,  and  from  1898- 
1900,  $361,  369.  During  the  whole  period,  and  including  about 
|45,ooo  raised  in  1888  by  Dr.  Chamberlain  for  the  Theological 
Seminary  in  the  Arcot  Mission,  the  Board  has  received 
$3,415,939  Adding  the  amount  given  during  the  period  of  co¬ 
operation  with  the  A.  B.  C.  F  M.,  $245,469,  the  total  sum  of 
$3,661,408  is  the  contribution  of  the  Church  in  sixty-five  years 
to  this  work,  beside  about  $49,000  for  the  Arabian  Mission, 
chiefly  from  its  own  members.  As  Dr.  Ferris  said  at  Albany 
in  1881  ;  “The  Church  has  sustained  its  Missions  with  a  noble 
liberality,  God  has  given  his  people  a  willing  mind.” 

As  we  face  a  new  century  of  effort  and  prayer,  may  we  not 
hope  that  all  the  former  things  will  be  as  nothing  when  com¬ 
pared  with  the  far  greater  things  the  Lord  will  enable  us  to  do, 
in  this  thrice  blessed  service  for  His  glory  and  the  redemption 
of  mankind. 


